New Orleans
by mille libri
Summary: JJ and Will's first weekend together.
1. JJ

_Thank you for reading! It was fun to explore what their thoughts might have been that first weekend together._

* * *

The plane was beginning its final descent into New Orleans, and JJ's stomach was fluttering right along with it. She was more than used to planes taking off and landing again, but usually what waited for her on the ground was less exciting—and less frightening—than the man who was picking her up today.

Her visit this weekend was the result of nearly a month's worth of calls and emails and texts, most of which made her heart beat faster and her cheeks heat. Will LaMontagne's courtly charm and open admiration shone in every form of communication. Especially on the phone—that slow drawl that she pretended to make fun of melted her into her seat every time.

But for all that, she'd been reluctant to agree to go visit. New Orleans was a beautiful city; Will a man she wanted to know better; her usual weekends certainly didn't offer anything more enticing. But she was afraid to go. Afraid to try. Afraid, if she were willing to admit it to herself, to put herself in a position where she might get hurt. And while JJ had dated plenty, she had never gone quite this far for a first date, never looked forward to it quite this much, and it was that very anticipation that had her nerves screaming for extra caution.

JJ looked out the window, watching as the bright lights in the dark night that had settled over New Orleans came closer, and fidgeted with her hair. She wished she'd had time for a shower and a change of clothes before getting on the plane, but she had come straight from work—she hadn't dared trying to leave early, not with an office full of profilers watching her every move. They had all made an agreement long ago not to profile each other, but who were they kidding? Everyone on the team knew everything they could find out about each other—and they made inferences from every piece of information. In some ways, JJ liked that, because she knew it came from being a team, a family, as Garcia liked to say, and having each other's back. In other ways … JJ guarded her privacy, didn't want to be answering questions or making a statement or bearing the weight of the speculative looks they would all give her. She got enough of that on the job.

Closing her eyes as the plane touched down, the rest of the passengers suddenly grown chatty and restive as they waited for the plane to taxi to the gate, JJ tried to bring Will's face to mind and found she couldn't quite manage. A feature here or there, but not the whole thing. What if she had made up this unaccountable attraction, charmed by his gentleness, the way he listened and didn't always feel the need to offer alternatives when she talked, his slow voice like warm honey rolling over her? What if she walked out of the terminal and saw him waiting there and wanted to turn around and run the other way? It was possible, and how humiliating would that be … for both of them? She could imagine his mouth turning down, his eyes sad and hurt, and she crossed her fingers and hoped this wasn't all a big mistake.

JJ deplaned with the rest, unused to the fits and starts as the passengers inched their way down the aisle. The BAU jet was much better; the only waiting she was used to having to do was for Spence, who liked to stop every couple of steps and turn around to expound on something until Morgan or Emily dragged him bodily off the plane. But she could hardly take the jet on a date, much as it would have made the flight more pleasant. JJ swung her go-bag down from the overhead compartment, breathing a sigh of relief that she had made it all the way through the day without anyone looking inside it. She could only imagine what Morgan and Emily—or Garcia—would have said if they had glimpsed inside it. Heels, lingerie, perfume, a nice dress in case they went out. JJ wasn't sure if she hoped they would, or if she hoped they wouldn't.

Was she being ridiculous thinking this weekend would lead to sex? Was she expecting too much too fast, would that turn him off? Their phone conversations had gotten intimate several times; surely there was an expectation. She knew she had one … or she had, until the plane landed and she was suddenly here and wasn't really sure of anything any more.

You'd think she'd never been on a date before, she thought tartly, stepping onto the jetway and feeling the heat and humidity surround her like a blanket. Sometimes she liked the feeling. Right now, it was more suffocating than anything else, and JJ was gripped by a sudden desire to turn around and run back onto the plane, retake her seat, and let the plane fly her to wherever it was going next. But she had come too far to back out now, so she forced her feet to keep going, carrying her off the jetway and into the air-conditioned terminal.

He was waiting for her, leaning against the wall with one leg casually crossed over the other, looking totally relaxed, and the sight of him there, a single beautiful pink rose held in one hand, soothed JJ's concerns at the same time as it set her heart pounding.

Suddenly she was sure—for whatever reason, this was where she was meant to be at this moment. A smile spread across her face at the way his eyes lit up when he saw her, and she hurried to him, putting her arms around his neck and holding on tight.

"Welcome to New Orleans."

"I thought I'd never get here."

Courtly as ever, Will took her bag, handing her the rose, and she walked out with him into the velvety-warm New Orleans night.


	2. Will

Hands in his pockets, Will watched JJ walk into the terminal. She had told him he didn't need to drive her to the airport, that she could take a taxi—no need for him to put himself out. He had politely but firmly brushed aside her protests; he wanted to make the weekend last as long as possible, and that meant standing here drinking in the sight of her, blonde hair swaying as she walked, until she was completely hidden in the throng of people moving through the airport.

He couldn't have spoken for JJ—they didn't know each other nearly well enough yet—but he knew his own mind and heart, and there was no question in either that he was in love with her. Her sweet smile, her careful way of speaking, her heart, tender to the needs of others but strong enough to stand the horrors of her job and still come out with a belief in the good things. Will hadn't been able to get her off his mind since the day they'd met, and now he knew he never would.

The weekend had been even better than he'd imagined. For starters, neither of them had been called into work, a minor miracle Will still wasn't sure he believed had really occurred. He had spent most of the first night holding his breath, waiting for JJ's phone to go off and call her back to DC. She had confessed that she'd considered hiding his phone to make sure he wasn't called in, but he'd assured her that his partner had his back and would have covered for him as much as possible.

That conversation had been held in bed, between kisses, after the first impassioned round of lovemaking and well on their way to the second. Will had called for takeout eventually, rather than keeping the reservation he had made at a fine restaurant, and had discovered that drinking beer and eating Chinese food with JJ in bed was the most fun he'd had in a long time. She looked younger out of her BAU clothes (and in his shirt), freer and lighter and happier, and he wanted to keep her looking like that forever.

That night was a long one. It was impossible that they could have talked about everything that night, lying there in each other's arms under the faint whir of his ceiling fan, but he thought they'd come close. And yet it had only made him want more—more of her kisses, more of her laugh, more of the sharp leaps and turns her mind took. She was one of the smartest women he had ever met, and he found that overwhelmingly sexy.

They had managed to drag themselves out of bed late Saturday morning, and Will had taken JJ to some of his favorite haunts in New Orleans, showing her the beauties of the city that were off the usual tourist tracks. Will had been entranced by JJ's enthusiasm; she felt as though she belonged here, with him, already.

But of course, that couldn't be. The BAU was in Quantico; the BAU was in JJ's blood. Her eyes positively shone when talking about her work and about helping the families cope with the stresses of the investigations. She kept up with many of them long afterward, making herself available to them by phone and email, to be that familiar voice they could reach when the memories and grief got to be too much. Carrying all that weight didn't seem to burden her, though—it was clear to him that she liked it. More, that she throve on it. It was a part of who she was. No matter where this thing between them led, and Will wanted it to go far, JJ's job would have to be a priority.

He shook his head, still watching the corner she had gone around, even though she had probably gotten through security and halfway to her gate by now. Nothing like getting ahead of yourself, he thought, worrying about her job when all they'd had so far was one weekend.

But a hell of a weekend. And one that they both wanted to repeat, as soon as they could manage it. He thought of her again, her little smile, which had grown wider and more genuine over the course of the two days, as she had gotten used to him and started, just maybe, to trust him a little. He wanted to see that smile as full and whole-hearted as it could get. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed into it "miss you already".

Her flight would be boarding soon; there was no real point to him standing here. And he had work to catch up on, too. But something in him didn't want to go, not when there was still a chance they were both sharing the same piece of ground.

His phone buzzed, and he took a look at it, his heart leaping, hoping it was from her, but it was only from his partner, teasing him about the weekend and issuing dire threats about the amount of paperwork Will was going to have to do when he got into the office.

In the middle of reading the message, the phone buzzed again, JJ's name and picture popping up. The message said, "On plane. Hate to leave. I miss you, too."

He smiled broadly, sending her a happy face in response, and then he shoved the phone back in his pocket and left the airport, whistling a cheerful tune, already planning the next visit in his head. Will was under no illusions as to how difficult that would be to manage, but at least now he knew they would both be trying their best to make it happen, and that made all the difference.

In the meantime, police work in New Orleans was as busy as always, and Will headed back to the job.


End file.
